1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to butt splicing devices for splicing flexible web-like materials (hereinafter referred to as "web") such as plastics, paper, metal foils, etc., and more particularly to a device which is capable of butt splicing extremely thin webs while they are travelling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A known prior art device for butt splicing thin webs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,035 as illustrated in FIG. 8. In this device, a cutting drum 7 and a cutting and splicing drum 8 are provided to cut a succeeding web 3 whose unwinding is begun and a preceding web 2 whose unwinding has already been completed, both webs being overlapped, and the cutting and splicing drum 8 and a splicing drum 9 are provided to splice the leading end of the succeeding web 3 to the trailing end of the preceding web 3 with use of a splicing tape 23. In this case, however, the leading end of the succeeding web 3 after being cut is not held by the drum until it has been spliced, and for the purpose of splicing the leading end of the succeeding web 3 after cutting has to be transported by means of the cutting drum 7 to a splicing zone A separated a distance therefrom along a transporting guide 15. However, where the thickness of web is extremely thin, for example, less than 25 .mu., the web has a low rigidity and lacks firmness so that it is often difficult to transport the leading end of the succeeding web 3 into the splicing zone A. Even if the leading end of the succeeding web 3 should be transported into the splicing zone A, it would be extremely difficult to intimately contact the leading end of the succeeding web 3 and the trailing end of the preceding web 2, thereby often producing a joint having a separation therebetween and allowing adhesive on the splicing tape 23 to be exposed, thus obtaining a poor joint. Particularly, when splicing is performed at a high speed, these problems become remarkable, which results in a significant difficulty in that it is extremely hard to achieve high speed splicing.